The L.A. Times music blog

Live review: M83 with the L.A. Philharmonic at Disney Hall

March 8, 2009 | 6:10
pm

The electronica act gets overwhelmed by orchestration in an intriguing but unwieldy Disney Hall showcase.

The gauzy French electronica band M83 regularly admits to the
big influence of schlocky '80s teen movies on its sound. So to contextualize its
orchestral debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall on Saturday
night, let's use a familiar metric: the cast of "The Breakfast Club."

But M83's collaboration with the Phil, the latest in an
ambitious series of indie-orchestral pairings, was regrettably something of an
Ally Sheedy moment -- an initially captivating experiment that grew so enamored
with its own emotional tumult that the show sometimes felt a bit like detention.

Anthony Gonzalez, M83's sole permanent member, has long flirted with
both arena-sized rock pomp and meticulous sound-sculpting. The possibilities in
Gonzalez expanding on his ambient leanings with a full orchestra are enticing,
and the early non-collaborative movements in the show hinted at a radical
revision of the M83 template. Gonzales led the night with a solo performance of
minimalist works from his low-key album "Digital Shades Volume 1," and the light
spectacle of his modular synthesizer bank complimented the music's crackling,
handmade melancholy that drew heavily from La Monte Young and William
Basinski.

The L.A. Philharmonic, under conductor Julian Kuerti, countered
with two savvy pieces that suggested fascinating ways of elaborating on those
moods. Arvo Pärt's "Fratres" rode a deadpan repeating timpani figure while
opposing string sections jockeyed for moments of transcendence, only to pull
back in somber, steely reserve. Debussy's "La Mer" took an opposite, evocative
route, veering from a menacing low-end growl to ephemeral chords suggesting
light bouncing on the titular body of water.

Any of those three approaches could have capitalized on the
opportunities for deconstruction in Gonzalez' widescreen blowouts. But M83 and
the Phil instead used their orchestral bulk to overwhelm through melodramatic
economies of scale. Half the pleasures of M83's albums are in the mixing, where
dozens of similar-sounding synthesizers are shoved to the front, creating an
uncanny sheet of digital noise.

But Disney Hall's articulate acoustics
instead highlighted the thinness of Gonzalez's melodic ideas on sprawling set
pieces like "Lower Your Eye- lids to Die With the Sun." The Phil (with arranger
Sean O'Loughlin) compensated with sheer scope, tacking on a female choir, a lead
soprano and kit drummer that felt overused and under-explored simultaneously.

From Gonzalez's end, he largely played a supporting role in the
collaboration, augmenting the pieces with electronic squiggles and chopped vocal
samples that never quite settled into the arrangements. So much was happening,
yet it soon became clear what was missing. Rhythmic playfulness, some changes in
mood, a sense of dramatic restraint or tension -- each ideas that Gonzalez, Part
and Debussy otherwise know well. In other words, you don't best Judd Nelson by
fighting him full-bore in the hallway, you win the girl by being smarter in the
end.